The one good thing about biking uphill is that you eventually have to go downhill. Learn some tips for mountain biking down hills in this free video clip.
Lean body behind saddle
Moderate brake forces so that you do not skid
Split weight between two pedals
Pancho Herrera is passionate about cycling. Pancho races for the SLO Nexus Club on road and mountain bikes. Pancho also has 25 years cycling experience as a competitor and pro shop mechanic.
PANCHO HERRERA: This is Pancho Herrera. Here's some tips for mountain biking downhill. Most mountain bikes are equipped with a quick release saddle. As you're anticipating a downhill stretch of trail, it's not a bad idea to lower that saddle. Let's get that thing out of your way a little bit and allow you freedom of movement in the cockpit of the bike. Make sure and close that quick release when you're done and test that saddle to make sure it's tight. Our saddle's down and out of the way. Now, let's work on our body position. Remember when the bike's pointed downhill, the tendency is for your body weight to be thrown forward. You're hanging on to the brakes tightly, so we want to resist that force. Typically, what we want to do is lean our bodies back behind the saddle. The steeper the terrain, the more you have to lean. If it's an extreme drop off, chances are you're all the way behind the saddle like so. Remember that we're moderating our brake forces so we don't skid wheels and we're balancing the front and rear brake together. You need a lot of front brake but you need to counter that body position by leaning back on the bicycle. Split your leg between the two pedals by orienting your pedals in a level position like they are here. Notice that my feet are parallel to the ground, my weight is split between the two pedals and I'm leaning well off the back of the saddle. This is going to counter the effect of braking that's trying to throw me over in front of the bike.
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